Struggling with free weights

Hey people, been back training at the gym since I found a decent gym in Romford, put on weight and stop going to the gym after getting married and having kids, never had my diet right before then and was never as big as most of you guys but I ways happy, always used the machines, not so much the ones with pulleys and weight stack but the simple frames where you put the free weights on, don't know if that makes a difference?, want to start seriously now and I know it's a yearly plan and not instant, I have dropped about 14lb in weight almost showing my old muscles, got my diet about 90% so all good but I'm struggling with free weights, especially with shoulders, doing shoulder press with DB I was struggling with 17.5kg each, the same with bench press 50kg, don't know what the bar weighs, curls 25kg, I'm thinking this is not good and like most other blokes trying to start seriously it's embarrassing and you feel people are sniggering at you, it's not paranoia haha, just wanted your guys advice especially as I seem really weak in the shoulders, I know if you just keep doing it you will improve but should I just stick to the machines for now ? Sorry for the long post fellas and ladies

stick to the free weights (especially for shoulders in my opinion). shoulders are a very complex body part with a big variety of movements, free weight especially DB's are excellent for creating strong and stable shoulders

Funny you posting this, i am fairly new to weight training (6 years break, started back up last Aug) and decided to use free weights for my shoulder presses yesterday for the first time.
It was FAR more difficult that i thought it was going to be. Thought i would try a fairly light to begin with at 16kg (used about 40kg on the machines), but i struggled with that. I found it was difficult concentrating on both lifting the weights and the balance both at the same time. There were teenage kids lifting more than i could, lol.
 
25kg? is that DB or bar? If DB its not too bad at all i think (i only manage 18kg), if bar then again probably not too bad as the bar itself will weigh about 5kg (if a short one) or 10kg (if a long one), so thats about 15kg per bicep.
 
As for thinking people are sniggering at you, dont think it. They started off themselves at some point, also how do they know you dont have an injury.
I start off with a large weight, do reps until i cant go any further, drop down a weight and do the same (do this for 3 or 4 weights) at the end i am lifting stupidly small weights and struggling with them too, lol. So people may think i am as weak as a kitten if they only see that. Who cares?

Most of the long olympic bars are 20kg.

The 25kg is using the small bar with the rubber weights at the end, you can't change them so total weight is 25kg, I used to just stick to the same routine all the time but since joining this site I realise you have to mix it up constantly, I dont care to much in regards to thinking people are sniggering as I'm in there for me and not to be seen by other people, I certainly don't want to end up one of those screamers like there are at my place haha, it's easy to see why people turn to AAS so soon, but it's not for me but would never knock anyone who does, scares the life out of me.

I will persevere with the DB and hopefully after a few months I will see some gains, I will give what you say a bash by starting heavy and working down with out rest, seen Rob Ritches doing this on one of his youtube videos and says its great for biceps so should work for shoulders, didn't realise how much was in BB, I now understand how dedicated these big guys are, it's an art and seems like you really need to master it

Long bar is 20kg, so my chest press is 70kg, cheers for that mate will re-write my stats and add 20kg for each excersise I use the bar

Don't concern yourself with what other people are lifting.  Everyone hjas got to start somewhere.  Use a weight that you can lift with good form without injuring yourself and increase every couple of weeks by the smallest amount possible (usually 2.5kg).  You're using stabilizing muscles with free weights that you wouldn't be using with machines.  They just need time to get used to it and catch up.   Nobody is sniggering at you, that is all in your head.  People would however snigger at you if you were to load a bar with a weight you can't lift and then squash yourself under it.

I didnt know the weight of the bars, so if the long one is 20kg, is the shorter one 10kg?
 
So you are using 15kg for curls? again, thats not too bad for starting out. When i started in Aug last year i was using 8kg DB, so only 16kg in total. I now use 16 or 18kg DB, so you will soon increase. I have hit my first plateau and cant get any further than 18kg at the moment though, but again, not overly concerned.
 
You are doing FAR better than me with your chest though, i can only do 50kg (incl the bar), as i have trouble with balance and fear of dropping it. I need a gym buddy, but my shift work makes this difficult.

I don't want to place to much emphasis on the fact I worry people may be sniggering, I know they are not, but it's a mind set that a lot of beginners have, or ones I have spoke to have, but like I said Im in there because I enjoy it and want to get better and hopefully bigger, strange how much you end up loving getting up in the morning feeling like your body is on fire after being hit by a bus.

I'm like you PCthug would find it easier to have a spotter or someone to go with but none of my mates or work mates fancy the gym mostly because I doesn't have a sauna haha

you've gotta love DOMS especially after leg day

Just keep perseveering - it'll only take a week or two to start seeing strength improvements. After that it's up to how strong you want to get and how hard you want to work.
 
We all have weak lifts too. I pull really well on deads, squat 270 for reps, but can only bench 120kg. It drives me mental and I keep working at it but the fact is I'll probably never have an impressive bench press - I also train in a gym where the vast majority of trainers are either ripped inside out or absolute monsters - but you can't let it stress you, just enjoy the process of improvement for yourself and no-one else.
 
The machines you've been using sound like Hammer machines - they're actually pretty good themselves and are good for supplemenary lifts but making free weights your basis is always the best choice.
 
As for the cable machines, don't disregard these, they're very good. Many see them as the next best thing to free weights (due to the freedom of movement of the cable avoiding the fixed plane of motion). They're also mostly on the pull exercises, whcih should never be overlooked.

Cheers for the info Bollard, I will stick with it and maybe up my shoulder work some more as it seems to be my weakest point and I'm sure will get stronger the more I do, Im not going to run before I can walk, made that mistake few years back with DB chest press and my wrist gave way and dropped a 35 kg DB on my face haha, spent a month walking around like the elephant man, some monster lifts your doing hopefully get to that point in a few years, cheers mate